United States of America
The United States of America (USA) is a federal republic composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major territories and various possessions. The 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C. are in central North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is located in the northwestern part of North America and the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. At 3.8 million square miles (9.842 million km2), the country is the world's fourth-largest by total area and the third most populous. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. History Invasion of Earth On July 2, 1996, a 500 km wide alien mothership enters Earth's orbit and deploys several dozen saucer-shaped "destroyer" spacecraft, each 15 miles (24 km) wide. As they take position over some of America major cities, David Levinson, an MIT graduate working for a cable company in New York City, discovers hidden transmissions in Earth's satellites which he realizes is a timer counting down to a coordinated attack by the aliens. With the support of his estranged wife Constance Spano, the White House Communications Director, he and his father Julius gain entrance into the Oval Office to notify President Thomas J. Whitmore about the attack. Whitmore orders large-scale evacuations of the targeted cities, but the aliens attack with advanced directed-energy weapons before these can be carried out. Whitmore, portions of his staff narrowly escape aboard Air Force One as Washington, D.C. is destroyed. On July 3, the Black Knights, a squadron of Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornets, participate in an assault on a destroyer near the ruins of Los Angeles. Their weapons fail to penetrate the craft's force field. Dozens of "attacker" ships are launched by the aliens in defense, and a one-sided dogfight ensues in which nearly all the Hornets are destroyed with the exception of a single pilot survived. Afterwards, many American military installations, including NORAD, are destroyed, killing the Vice President and most of the Cabinet who had been hiding there. Whitmore orders a nuclear attack on the destroyers, but the first attempt in Houston fails to penetrate the force field of the destroyer and the remaining strikes are aborted. On July 4, Levinson devises a plan to use the repaired attacker from Area 51 to introduce a computer virus and plant a nuclear missile on board the mothership, theorizing that this will disrupt the force fields of the destroyers. Captain Steven Hiller volunteers to pilot the attacker, with Levinson accompanying him. With not enough military pilots to man all available aircraft, volunteers including Whitmore are enlisted for the counterstrike. With the successful implantation of the virus, Whitmore leads the attack against an alien destroyer approaching Area 51. Although the force field is deactivated and the fighters are able to inflict damage, their supply of missiles quickly becomes exhausted. Russell Casse sacrificed himself in destroying the vessel by to flying his plane directly into the alien weapon in a kamikaze attack. The Americans inform resistance forces around the world about how to destroy the alien ships. The alien mothership was soon destroyed by the nuclear missile delivered by Hiller and Levinson, who they managed escape unharmed back to Earth. Category:Earth Category:Country